Recipe: Red Chile Sauce

Chris Maher teaches a class called New Mexican with a Twist at his Cooking Studio Taos. “It means modernizing the cuisine to a certain extent, without bastardizing it,” he explains. “For example, my red chile has chocolate and cinnamon in it. However, the quantities are small so that it augments the actual chile flavor, gives it legs. These additions are imperceptible, but people enjoy what happens in their mouth, on their palate.”

Red Chile Sauce

1 cups dried red chile (preferably Chimayó red chile)

1/3 cup minced almonds or pine nuts

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped (approximately 3 cups)

10 garlic cloves

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon toasted cumin seed

1 scant teaspoon coriander

1 tablespoon pure cocoa powder (pure chocolate, not powdered drink)

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon brown sugar

Salt, pepper

8 cups chicken stock or water

Sauté onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add the cumin seed and coriander and continue to sauté another 4–5 minutes. Add the chile all at once and mix thoroughly—this will usually dry up your pan. Add the chicken stock or water, mix thoroughly, and allow chile to simmer for about 5–10 minutes. (If it gets dry, add a little more water.)

Add the cocoa powder and nuts, stir thoroughly. Add ground cinnamon and brown sugar. Continue simmering the sauce for a minimum of 20–30 minutes, making sure it doesn’t go dry. Add salt and pepper to taste.